Floodlit Pitch

  Derbyshire Senior Cup 1st Round Shirebrook Town (red & black) v Clay Cross Town. 174 days after Buxton lifted the Derbyshire Senior Cup this season’s competition gets underway. Like most County Senior Cup competitions the Derbyshire version is mostly midweek, which does create an atmosphere under the lights but it doesn’t help with the action photos, though that could be a training need. Two of the three 1 st round ties started on October 10 th , South Normanton Athletic hosted Belper United in a reversal of last season’s 1 st round tie, and the game I chose to attend, Shirebrook Town at home to Clay Cross Town. Two clubs linked to coal mining and, by coincidence, the hosts were formed in 1985, a landmark year for the mining industry. I’ve been to Shirebrook a few times but I always need to refer to the sat nav to get me there so it’s out with the trusty Non-League Club Directory for the club address and off we go. Langwith Road. Originally named Shirebrook Colliery the c

While writing an article for the Alfreton Town v Darlington programme I had more images and information than a 2 page spread in a match magazine can take, so if you read my article in the Alfreton programme, thanks for logging on here. Feethams. Darlington played at Feethams from their formation in 1883 until forced to leave due to financial problems in 2003. Football had been played at the ground from the 1860’s and Darlington's formation came about after a number of local clubs got together to pool their resources into one club. The ground’s development took place in the early 1900’s with the West Stand being built, the South Terrace was constructed in 1905, this was also known as the cricket pavilion. Around the same time the Town End was terraced. The Town End Terrace at Feethams For me the beauty of grounds like Feethams is the little quirky bits, as well as the lovely old stands of the time. To get into the football ground you needed to go through the twin towers at the m

A review of Alfreton Town's 2022/23 Season. Alfreton Town 2022/23 Alfreton Town have just had their most successful season since returning to the National League North following relegation from what is now the National League in 2014/15. The fact that they achieved this in a strong division with full time teams, against clubs with bigger budgets and larger fan bases deserves some recognition. The side that Billy Heath has put together since his arrival in 2018 plays a physical style of football but isn't short of flair players. Billy has nurtured a togetherness amongst players, staff, volunteers, officials and supporters which was evident at games home and away last season. Here's my take on Alfreton's best season since their Blue Square Premier (National League) days. A 9 th place finish the previous season gave some optimism to Reds fans of a flirt, at least, with the play-offs. Pre-season saw eight players recruited, replacing the 8 that had left. In came goalkeeper